PMU Reduction Means Victory!

Wyeth, the manufacturer of Premarin, it's hormone replacement therapy drug made from Pregnant Mare's Urine, has shut down 1/3 of it's PMU farms & 1/2 of it's collection stalls, with another 1/3 reduction being planned for next year.

This 3 billion dollar a year "gold" mine suffered damage far worse than that which humane organizations such as H.O.R.S.E.S. in Texas have been able to cause them after several studies indicated the drug caused heart attacks, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, gallbladder disease-and these were just the maladies that were discovered before Wyeth spent $3 million to expand it's Brandon processing plant & increase Manitoba's hers by 8,000 mares, a climb from 24,985 in 1999 to 33,000 in 2002.

In July 2002, a Women's Health Initiative study was cut short when it began to reveal that women swallowing pregnant mare's urine have a 41% increased risk of stroke, 100% increased risk of blood clots, 26% increased risk of cancer, 29% heart attack, 22% cardiovascular disease, and increased death rates. But that wasn't the end of the bad news for Wyeth and it's customers.

In May of 2003, the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that women over 65 who swallow pregnant mare's urine have twice the rate of dimentia, including Alzheimer's disease, compared to those not taking the drug. It was also noted that the drug is responsible for a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer and that taking the drug makes it harder to detect the tumors until they have reached a later, less curable stage. Wyeth has been advertising that Premarin & it's sister products are a deterrent to ovarian cancer; now we know it may actually cause it.

Wyeth, being the wonderful company they are, waited until just days before the 2003-2004 collection season was set to begin. 15,000 newly pregnant mares now face slaughter. Farmers, being the wonderful people they are, have not yet begun to release mares/foals/stallions to rescue groups at discounted prices, hindering the large-scale rescue effort required to save many of these precious, but wasted, lives. Perhaps the farmers are not as interested in selling low and cutting their losses because Wyeth has at least offered to help them, if not the mares they've all gotten fat off of. Wyeth is going to honor all existing obligations to the farmers for the 2003 collection year.

From the rescue organization's end, hinderances are that we don't really know which farmers have been shut down. Most, but not all, farms are said to be in Canada. Only a few farms exist in the U.S., in the far northern states, thus making transport a major financial obstacle. At the time of this writing, HnT is finding out if a list of farmers is available and asking Wyeth to help pay transport for the horses.

You can help by contacting Wyeth & urging them to help pay for transport to safety for the mares.

Their contact info is:
North American Equine Ranching Information Council
P.O. Box 43968
Louisville, KY; 40253-0968
Phone: 502-245-0425 Fax: 502-245 0438

Certainly, you may be asking, "Why is the possible slaughter of so many PMU horses being called a victory?" The answer is that the possible death by slaughter of these horses is not a victory for us. The needless death by slaughter each year of thousands of foals and non-producing brood mares has got to stop, and though it may be painful, future generations of PMU mares and foals now will not be going to slaughter. Rescuing the percentage of PMU mares and foals still left in production will be easier since there will be fewer for us to concentrate our limited efforts on.

Right now, all we can do is make the best of a bad situation by trying to rescue as many of these horses as we can, and remember that every cloud has a silver lining. It just so happens that the silver lining to this particular cloud happens to be filled with a victory that "our side" has been working towards for years.

Editor's note: Since this article was written, Wyeth has agreed to help pay for shipping of PMU horses.